(Reuters) - As Sears Holdings Corp teeters on the brink of liquidation, its employees are pushing for a hardship fund they hope can replicate the success of bankrupt retailer Toys ‘R’ Us, whose workers collected $20 million in severance pay from its former owners. FILE PHOTO: Letters remain from a removed sign outside a Sears department store one day after it closed as part of multiple store closures by Sears Holdings Corp in the United States in Nanuet, New York, U.S., January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Mike SegarSears on Tuesday agreed to consider a revised takeover bid from Chairman Edward Lampert, temporarily staving off a liquidation that would have…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp agreed on Tuesday to consider a revised takeover bid from billionaire Chairman Edward Lampert, temporarily staving off a liquidation that would have spelled the end of the 126-year-old U.S. department-store chain. Lampert’s latest attempt to rescue Sears came after his previous $4.4 billion bid fell short, prompting the retailer to make liquidation preparations ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing in New York on Tuesday. An attorney for Sears told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain that Lampert is expected to submit a revised offer for the retailer, along with a $120 million deposit, by 4 p.m. ET (2100 GMT) on Wednesday.…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A partial shutdown of the federal government entered its 18th day on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to make a nationally televised address to promote construction of his long-promised wall along the border with Mexico. The dome of the U.S. Capitol is seen beyond a chain fence during the partial government shutdown in Washington, U.S., January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueTrump, when he ran for president in 2016, said Mexico would pay for the barrier along the nation’s southern border. The Mexican government has steadfastly refused, causing Trump to demand payment from a Congress that also has balked. As a result, Trump has…

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan rebuked Washington’s national security adviser on Tuesday for demanding that his country not attack Kurdish fighters in Syria, accusing him of complicating President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw U.S. troops. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Umit BektasErdogan said John Bolton, who held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Tuesday but left without meeting the president, “made a serious mistake” in setting conditions for Turkey’s military role after the U.S. pullout. The rebuke highlights the difficulties in implementing…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An index of world stocks rose for the third straight session on Tuesday, with investors hopeful that the United States and China would strike a deal to end their months-long trade war that has hurt sentiment in financial markets. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidIncreased risk appetite helped lift U.S. Treasury yields, while the dollar, which hit an 11-week low on Monday, rebounded as the euro weakened on concerns about a slowdown in the euro zone economy. Tuesday’s advance for stocks added to gains logged over the past…

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh - The first time I met Formin Akter, she wanted to talk about Helen Keller. Formin Akter, a Rohingya refugee girl, smiles as she poses for a picture before heading to Chittagong to attend school at the Asian University for Women, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, August 24, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainFormin was 18. She was sitting on a plastic stool in a bamboo shelter at a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Like the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees around her, she and her family had fled a campaign of mass murder, rapes and arson in Myanmar the previous year. But Formin wanted to talk about…

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A growing proportion of Americans blame President Donald Trump for a partial government shutdown that will cut off paychecks to federal workers this week, though Republicans mostly support his refusal to approve a budget without taxpayer dollars for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Rose Garden after a meeting with U.S. Congressional leaders about the U.S. government shutdown and border security at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 4, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File PhotoThe national opinion poll, which ran from Jan. 1 to Jan. 7, found that 51…

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh is seen during a group portrait session for the new full court at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Jim YoungWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court’s newest member, Brett Kavanaugh, issued his first written opinion on Tuesday as the justices in a unanimous ruling bolstered companies’ ability to use arbitration to resolve disputes with customers or other businesses. The court decided 9-0 to throw out a lower-court ruling that had kept a case involving dental equipment companies from being resolved through arbitration because the court had determined the demand for arbitration was groundless.…

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen during a group portrait session for the new full court at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young/File PhotoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s first absence from the bench extended into a second day on Tuesday as the 85-year-old jurist continued her recovery from lung cancer surgery at home. Although Ginsburg did not attend the oral arguments, she will participate in the cases and rulings by using the briefs and oral argument transcripts, Chief Justice John Roberts announced from the bench. Ginsburg, who joined the court in…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will make his case to Americans on Tuesday that a wall is needed to resolve a “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to make good on a campaign promise in a dispute that has sparked an 18-day partial government shut-down. Trump’s prime-time address, scheduled for 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday) will be the Republican president’s latest attempt to persuade Democrats, not to mention furloughed government workers, to back his push for a steel barrier on the southern border. He has long maintained that such a wall is needed to stem the flow of illegal immigration and drugs, and in recent weeks…